The developers from Amazon Games have recently announced the New World PTR December 2021 launch.
New World PTR: What is It?
According to Amazon Games, PTR is the limited-availability server-set that will allow players to get a preview of New World’s upcoming features. These are not the final versions though, the developers clarified. Players who join this realm will encounter bugs, crashes, missing text, and other issues that the final version will not have at all. This was introduced in order for the community to help out the developers flushing out all of the issues and bugs before it reaches the live servers.
The developers did say that not all bugs can be fixed right away as they will need investigation first and a follow-up will be made in an upcoming patch.
Players who will join this realm will have the chance to instantly level their newly created characters to select level-rangers and have the latest gear and items.
When Will the Servers Open?
The PTR servers will open its doors starting on December 3, 2021 at 10 AM PT/ 6 PM UTC. The servers are limited and at the start there will only be one world in the US East and another one in Central Europe.
What Happens After the Test Period Hits Completion?
The developers stated that after the test period is completed and the main New World game gets updated with the previewed content, all worlds will be shut down and be wiped clean. There will be a New World PTR app in the Steam library, but that will not have active servers until the next time they will announce another test run. So do not get attached to your characters while playing this.
What are the Limited Time Contents?
First up is the Winter Convergence Festival with more snowfall and the appearance of the Northern Lights in the sky. Yeti, the Winter Wanderer, will also be appearing in this preview. They will be interacting with this creature to collect Winter Tokens from repeatable events across the island and turn them in to a Holiday Shop to exchange rare and cosmetic items.
Expect some new armors, weapons, furnishings, skins, consumables, and the new present gifting emote.
Here are more details:
WINTER VILLAGES
The Winter Wanderer has set up four villages to facilitate the joy and cheer of Winter Convergence! Visit these villages in Everfall, Monarch’s Bluffs, Weaver’s Fen, and Brightwood to meet the Winter Wanderer and carry out his holiday quests!
WINTER CONVERGENCE ACTIVITIES
- The Convergence Spirit –
Celebrate the spirit of the season by giving a helping hand in decorating your favorite Settlement.
- The Convergence Spirit is a special Town Project that allows players to complete special Town Project Quests to upgrade each Settlements Tree of Light for improved daily rewards!
- Lost Present Recovery –
Those dastardly Frigid Folk are spreading their mischief and stealing present across Aeternum.
- Located throughout the world are Lost Presents to be recovered and turned in for Winter Tokens at the Winter Villages Holiday Huts.
- Gleamite Collecting –
Bright, glittering, gleaming Gleamite meteors of a multitude of color fall from the nights sky during this time of the year; as destructive as they are beautiful.
- Gleamite Showers are a new random, dynamic event that occurs at night throughout Aeternum. Keep your eyes and ears open as you search for locations where the showers are most prevalent. Exchange the harvested crystals for Winter tokens at the Winter Village Holiday Huts. Happy hunting!
Ice Caves
Ice Caves will be appearing all over the Aeternum due to the Winter Warrior’s desire for a Forever Winter. These are snowy and icy caves that the yeti use their powers to freeze up and make snow fall. The caves will remain behind after the event as scars on the land. Even if the Warrior is defeated, they will remain.
New Quests
There will be new quests to enjoy aside from the new quest series from the Winter Wanderer. These are new side story territory quests that are offered in Restless Shore and Mourningdale. There is also a new quest series related to Housing. Looking for Architect Giacomo Altoviti after completing the Main Story Quest Encroaching Corruption to start the quest series. More quests with Giacomo will be unlocked as you level up and progress your Territory Standing.
New Journal Categories
There are new quest categories in the Journal that got added. These are for Epic Weapons and Armor quests and for Skill Progression quests. It will come with new map pins for all the quest types.
New Features
Expertise and Gypsum System
Based on the feedback from the players, there are now major updates done to the end game. There is a new resource called the Gypsum, which can be harvested each day by doing a variety of activities like open world named bosses, expedition bosses, outpost rush, and more. Each of these activities will reward a different kind of Gypsum that can be crafted into a Gypsum Orb. The Orbs can then be crafted into Gypsum Casts for some awesome weapon, armor, or trinket type. By opening a Gypsum Cast, players are guaranteed an expertise bump and gear of that type.
The High Water Mark has been renamed to Expertise and will now display the current Expertise level of each slot on your avatar in the inventory. This will make it easier to track down your progress. A level up banner will also appear anytime your Expertise level increases.
There are two new end game POIs which can be challenged by players anytime. They can progress their Expertise with level 66 enemies with these and they guard elite chests too. The Malevolence in Edengrove and the Imperial Palace/North Dynasty Shrine have been up-leveled to 66 as well.
Here are some more notes from the devs for Trade Skill Aptitude and PVP Balance Changes:
TRADE SKILL APTITUDE
We want to continue rewarding the efforts you make to craft items for yourself, your friends, or to make a buck on the Trading Post, so we have introduced Trade Skill Aptitude!
- Upon reaching level 200 in a Trade Skill, the Leveling Circle will update to show 3 markers equidistant from each other on the circle.
- Earning Trade Skill XP will begin progressing you again, and when you reach one of these markers, you will be awarded with a container of useful items that are (mostly) trade skill relevant, such as Craft Mods, special ingredients, and even schematics and recipes!
- Each subsequent marker awards a more spectacular container with more rewards than the one before.
- Gaining enough XP to go all the way around the circle will increment the Aptitude Counter by 1. This counter will keep counting so you can keep track of how many times you’ve wrapped your progression around the top level.
- We have also introduced a new type of reward with this system: Equipment Patterns.
- Equipment Patterns are Crafting Artifacts that enable you to craft a guaranteed Gear Score 600 item that has a specific appearance.
- Patterns require a significant amount of powerful crafting resources to create, but guarantee a GS 600 item.
- Patterns still roll perks and players have the normal amount of control over their outcome with Craft Mods and Azoth.
- Equipment Patterns have a small chance to drop from Arcana, Weaponsmithing, Armoring, and Engineering Aptitude Reward Caches.
PVP BALANCE CHANGES
Due to an issue in our initial PvP damage formula that caused lower gear to be more beneficial in damage mitigation, we have updated our formula. We look forward to hearing your feedback on this update.
- PvP damage formula update
- We adjusted the way armor mitigation is calculated to use enemies gear score value instead of your average gear score.
- To adjust for the difference in armor mitigation we increased the damage low level players due to higher level players and reduced the damage the higher level players due to lower level players.
- Crit damage application
- Critical damage bonuses from masteries or perks are now applied additively instead of multiplicatively. On average, this will reduce the extra damage they provide by a small percentage.
- Buffer Windows: A general consistency pass has been done across all weapons to adjust the buffering windows for dodges, abilities and basic attacks. The updated buffer windows starts when the first frame of the attack that would deal damage or on the first casting frame in the case of abilities that do not deal damage.
Here are some PTR FAQs you can read before joining in:
HOW DO I ACCESS THE NEW PTR?
Everyone with a copy of New World will be automatically granted access to the secondary PTR app. The PTR is not compatible with the live game, so you will need to download a separate client (and have the hard drive space required to support it). From there, we will have special worlds available within supported regions. Not all regions will initially be supported. Access is on a first come, first served basis. There may be queues.
CAN I PLAY WITH OR TRANSFER MY LIVE CHARACTERS TO THE PTR?
Unfortunately, no. These are separate ecosystems, so at this time it is not possible. However, to make testing easier, we will occasionally provide our play-testers with special accommodations such as instant levels, special gear, etc.
CAN I PROVIDE DESIGN FEEDBACK REGARDING WHAT’S INCLUDED ON THE PTR?
Preview game builds on the PTR are finished with their core development and are in their final phase of testing and bug fixing. Our main focus at this phase is improving quality, although we will appreciate any feedback you have to share.
I HAVE A PROBLEM; HOW CAN I CONTACT CUSTOMER SUPPORT?
Our policies and Code of Conduct cover the PTR, and in-game moderation will continue to be supported. Unfortunately, due to the temporary and potentially unstable nature of the PTR, general Customer Service assistance through both Live Chat and through the Support Website will not be available.
I DON’T WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PTR, CAN I REMOVE THE APP FROM MY LIBRARY?
Don’t worry, no offense taken. Players can manage visibility of the New World Public Test Realm Steam Library entry. Opening up the game options (right-click > Manage) offers the “Hide Game” function.
New World is now available on PC.